Weekend Briefing

From Reuters Daily Briefing

By Robert MacMillan, Reuters.com Weekend Editor

Thanks for joining us. Russia is dealing with an armed insurrection and there is plenty more news to share.

Wagner fighters are deployed in Rostov-on-Don, June 24, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer

Prigozhin mounts Russia's first insurrection in decades

The latest: Vladimir Putin vowed to crush an armed mutiny after the private army of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin seized control of Rostov-on-Don near the Ukrainian border in Russia's first armed insurrection since the Chechen wars decades ago.
And in Ukraine: Officials signaled that the big offensive against Russia's invasion is yet to begin. "The counteroffensive is not a new season of a Netflix show," presidential spokesman Mykhailo Podolyak said. "There is no need to expect action and buy popcorn." Check back next week.

Why an investor turned down seats to see the Titanic

'The more I learned': Stockton Rush tried for a year to get Jay Bloom to buy spots on OceanGate's submersible, but the more the investor read about the vessel, including its use of consumer-grade parts such as a video-game joystick, "the more concerned I got." "I really liked him, and I think he had good intentions," Bloom said. "But he drank his own Kool-Aid."
Investigation: Canada opened an investigation into the implosion, which killed all five people aboard the Titan and raised questions about the unregulated nature of such expeditions.

U.S. court rejects challenge to abortion clinic 'buffer zone'

Stand back: A U.S. appeals court upheld a New York county law barring anti-abortion activists from approaching people outside abortion clinics, teeing up potential review by the Supreme Court. This week's ruling comes at the one-year anniversary of the court's overturning of Roe v. Wade. Republican presidential candidates spent their Friday applauding restrictions on abortion rights.
Decaffeinated pride: More than 3,000 Starbucks workers will walk off the job following claims that the company banned Pride month decorations at some of its cafes. Pride celebrations are planned for several U.S. cities this weekend, but as the Reuters World News podcast tells us, it's quite a bit more dangerous to be in the LGBTQ+ community in many other countries. In related news, read how Christian groups helped parents pull books from some Pennsylvania school libraries.

EU watchdog raises concern on drug used in Wegovy and Ozempic

'Safety signal': The European Medicines Agency will monitor potential adverse effects from the use of semaglutide, which is used in the popular weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy. The move came after a study suggested there might be an increased risk of thyroid cancers with the use of these drugs in patients with Type 2 diabetes.
Settlement: GSK agreed to settle a lawsuit alleging that heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer. It would have been the first such suit to have gone to trial. In other medical news, Medicare offered details on its plans to collect patient data as a condition for reimbursement for an Alzheimer's drug if it wins U.S. approval, and CDC advisers recommended that new Pfizer and GSK vaccines for RSV infections be made available to older adults.

Before I forget…

Prime Minister Narendra Modi denied during his visit to Washington that discrimination against minorities exists in India. That's a lie, activists say.

Recruiting firefighters is becoming increasingly difficult in Canada as it copes with its worst-ever start to wildfire season.

Half of Americans believe Hunter Biden received preferential treatment from prosecutors who reached a deal that would allow the younger Biden to plead guilty to tax charges but avoid a gun-related conviction, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

Infant mortality rises and life expectancy falls when sovereign debt defaults are not quickly resolved, a study says.

Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis got a golf simulator worth tens of thousands of dollars installed in his private pool cabana at the Florida governor's mansion, thanks to a wealthy donor. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said he didn't have to disclose that he took a private jet to Alaska for a fishing trip.

Two U.S. Senators want to make sure that I don't sound like an old coot when I tell the kids one day about how we used to have this funny thing called "AM radio" in our cars.

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